What will you do to protect our Democracy and our First Amendment freedoms?
Since his 2015 campaign for the U.S. presidency, Donald Trump has been relentless in his attempts to undermine the media, labeling anything he doesn’t like “fake news” and spreading self-serving propaganda. Alarmingly, his assault on the First Amendment has escalated over time. It includes barring journalists from press events and trying to co-opt the White House press pool, harassing journalists, threatening individual journalists and media organizations with prosecution, weaponizing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and clawing back funding for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (which oversees the Voice of America) and for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which oversees PBS, NPR, their local affiliates).
According to a July 16, 2025, online article by Variety,
In the 10 years since he announced his first run for president on June 16, 2015, Trump has written nearly 3,500 social media posts that attack the press, according to an analysis by the not-for-profit Freedom of the Press Foundation.
More troubling, as of July 22, 2025, Trump was involved, as either the plaintiff or the defendant, in more media and defamation lawsuits than he was in all of 2024. Witness recent actions taken against Paramount/CBS, the Wall Street Journal, and others..
It seems that Trump’s intention is “to erode our understanding of what truth is, to erode trust in the media, and to position himself as the ultimate source of truth for his supporters.” Moreover, Trump behaves as though the press’s job is to serve as his personal public relations agency. His is the behavior of a dictator, which is why it is imperative that we support free, fair, accurate, independent news sources: those that are free from the influence of governments, corporations or special interest groups.
The threat to our First Amendment is clear: “The record wave of litigation reflects how Trump’s clashes with the media have escalated from public criticism to courtroom showdowns….” Thus, “the need for quality journalism to hold leaders to account is as important as ever.”It is essential to the health of our communities and the functioning of our democracy.
Two thousand twenty-one Nobel Peace Prize winner and international journalist of almost four decades Maria Ressa has been under assault by the Philippine government for tracking corruption and government-supported disinformation networks. In examining the rise of dictators and authoritarianism globally, she speaks knowingly of technology being weaponized and of “democracy’s death by a thousand cuts.” In her book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator (2022), she warns us all,
As early as 2018, studies show that lies laced with anger and hate spread faster than facts. Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you cannot have trust. Without all three, we have no shared reality, and democracy as we know it — and all meaningful human endeavors — are dead.
Fortunately, Coloradans have a number of independent newspaper sources upon which they can rely. Among them are Colorado Times Recorder, The Colorado Sun, Colorado Newsline, and Complete Colorado (an aggregated news source). There are more. A Local Journalism Directory, for all 50 states, can be found on the Media and Democracy Project website.
The newspapers listed have no paywall; articles can be accessed online without subscribing. Still, these independent newspapers depend on those of us who value reliable, high quality journalism to support them. Please make a tax-deductible donation to one of these outlets today. One-time or recurring, every donation makes a difference.
Next, share this information with your friends or family. Then, do not limit yourself to a single news source and make it your habit to fact check what you read. Finally, don’t support media outlets that have shown a singular commitment to profits to the detriment of journalistic principles. For example, the Dominion defamation lawsuit made clear that the Fox News Network is not a reliable news source, being more concerned with its stock price than with the truth.
The Media Development Investment Fund reports, ”more than 80% of the world … live in countries without a free press, unable to trust the news they read, hear or see.” Let’s make certain the United States of America doesn’t become part of this statistic.
A longtime Colorado resident, Denise Fazio spent most of her career in Human Resources, working in the corporate and the nonprofit arenas. Now retired, she continues to be involved with various organizations and causes, dedicating a good deal of her time to writing projects and virtual volunteering. Her previous letters to the editor and guest opinions can be found in a variety of Colorado news publications.
